Pre-flight box



Jan. 21, 1969 c. R. STEDMAN PRE-FLIGHT BOX Filed Sept. 14, 1967 INVENTOR. 04 1419/? e. shew/144A;

United States Patent O 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This container is a two piece unit. The outer piece is a rectangular tube. The inner piece has a base member, end and side flaps, flaps for the top, and a pair of reinforcing end panels which have interengaging slots for holding the side panels together and increasing the strength of the end.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to containers in general and more particularly to collapsible containers.

Description of the prior (11ft Two piece containers are known in the prior art wherein an inner container is slid into and held in place by an outer tubular container which may be configured as a rectangle. The containers of the prior art have generally been quite satisfactory for lighter less bulky materials. However, difficulty has been encountered when heavy articles are cased in such containers due to the weakness of the end flaps. Similarly, such containers are generally satisfactory but difficulty is often experienced where it is desired to stack the containers one on top another since the containers are inadequately supported at the open ends of the outer member. It is, accordingly, an object of this invention to provide an improved two piece container which has interengaging reinforcing end panel members.

SUMMARY Without intending to limit the scope of the invention, the present construction may be described as a two piece container having a hollow elongate rectangularly configured outer container slidably receiving a rectangular inner container having reinforcing end flaps. It is, accordingly, an object of this invention to provide a strengthened two piece foldable container.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a foldable container of increased strength.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a container which may be constructed with a minimum of wastage of material.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a container blank which may be constructed simply and economically.

The specific disclosure and construction of the drawings and the specification constitutes an object of the invention.

Other objects will become apparent from the specification which follows and from the drawings to which reference is now made.

I BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURE 1 is an isometric view of the assembled container.

FIGURE 2 is an isometric view of the inner member of the container showing one of the top panels open to display the interior construction and the reinforcing panels of the invention.

FIGURE 3 is an isometric view of the outer member of the container.

3,423,006 Patented Jan. 21, 1969 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, this invention relates to a container 10 which includes an inner member 12 received in an outer member 14, the inner and outer members being secured together in place by tape members 16. As will be apparent from FIGURE 1, the outer member is an elongate tubular member having a generally rectangular cross-section. Of course, this would include a square, the square merely being a special case of the rectangle. The inner member 12 is received in the outer member 14 and the ends of the inner member are constructed and disposed, and the longitudinal configuration is so constructed, as to dispose the end panels of the inner member adjacent the ends of the outer member such as will complete the rectangular surface configuration of the container.

The inner container will be described with reference to the blank shown in FIGURE 6 primarily and with reference also to the partially folded configuration of FIG- URE 2.

As best illustrated in FIGURE 2, the inner container includes a rectangular base member 18 within the panels 20 and 22 secured by score lines 24 and 26 at the ends thereof. It will be apparent that the rectangular configuration of the base member 18 is, in the particular embodiment illustrated, a square and that the terms end and side are used to distinguish the relative configurations rather than the necessity of an asymmetric configuration.

The top of the inner container is formed by panels 28 and 30 which are secured by means of fold scores 32 and 34 to the respective end panels 20 and 22 and, as best illustrated in FIGURE 2, are so constructed and disposed such that when folded they completely cover the top of the inner container.

The sides of the inner container comprise side panels 36 and 38 which are secured by means of fold scores 40 and 42 to the sides of the rectangular base 18. Lips 44 and 46, secured by fold scores 48 and 50, are adapted to extend under the top panels 28 and 30, as best shown in FIGURE 2.

An important and, perhaps the principal, feature of the invention is the provision of end reinforcing panel members 52 and 54 secured by fold scores 56 and 58 to the side panels 36 and 38 at one end and similar reinforcing panels 60 and 62 secured by fold scores 64 and 66 to the other end of the side panels 36 and 38. It will be apparent from FIGURE 6 that the reinforcing end panels are formed by slotting at 68 and 70, on one end, and 72 and 74, at the other end, to separate the reinforcing end panels from the end and side panels, 20 and 22, and 28 and 30, respectively. Slots 76 and 78 are for-med in the reinforcing panels 52 and 54 and the slots 80 and 82 are formed in the reinforcing panels 60 and 62.

As best shown in FIGURE 2, the reinforcing end panels 52 and 54 lie in overlapping relation with the complementarily formed slots 76 and 78 coinciding and interengaging such as to secure the two side panels 36 and 38 together in vertical position relative to the base and in spaced relation relative to each other. It will be understood that the reinforcing panels 60 and 62 are similarily interengaged at the other end.

It will be apparent from FIGURES 4 and 6 that both the outer and the inner members of the container may be shipped in folded or knocked down condition to save space and may be quickly and easily assembled merely by making the necessary folds at the fold scores.

The fold scores, of course, may be formed simply by crushing the board, preferably a paper board, of which the container is made or by punching a series of slots or holes. These constructions are, for all practical purposes, equivalent although the crushed fold scores generally have somewhat greater strength.

It will also be understood that the materials of which the container is made do not constitute an important part of the invention and that the container can be made of paper board, as is usually the case, plastic or any other web or sheet material.

It will be apparent that the top member is made of a plurality of panels 84, 86, 88 and 90 forming the top and sides of the container secured together by a tape 92 and foldable at corners 94, 96, 98 and 100. Fold scores, according to the practice previously described, will be used in making the outer member as well as the inner member.

Once the inner member has been expanded and folded to the position shown in FIGURE 2, the other top flap 28 is folded down and the inner member is slid into the outer member and is secured in place by a pair of tapes 16 which may be of any conventional type. Preferably, such tapes are of the so-called pressure-sensitive type and are easily applied without the necessity of wetting.

It will be apparent from the illustration of FIGURE 2 that the container has very considerably greater strength at the ends so as to retain heavy articles which may be placed therein. This prevents tearing out of the end portions of the container as has been a serious problem in the past. In addition, by providing this additional strength at the ends, where such strength is not provided by the outer container, the overall container has suflicient strength to be stacked to great heights using a multiplicity of such containers.

In the preferred embodiment, the container is generally of the shape illustrated because this is convenient for most purposes. It will be understood, however, that the height, depth, and Width of the container will be adapted according to the particular needs or application of the container.

In addition to the advantages pointed out, other advantages will be apparent from the preceding disclosure and from the illustrations to those skilled in the art.

Further, it will be understood that while the invention has been disclosed with the reference to specific embodiments and in specific terms, the disclosure is intended as exemplary and not limiting. Accordingly, it is anticipated that the scope of the invention will be limited only by the appended claim and that departures from the actual construction may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A foldable container adapted to be shipped in collapsed condition and to be assembled to expanded condition for use comprising:

a rectangularly configured collapsable tubular outer member having open ends; and

an inner member having a rectangular configuration in one cross-section adapted to conform to the interior of the outer member and a rectangular configuration in a relatively perpendicular cross-section so constructed and disposed that panels of the inner member conform to the open ends of the outer member;

said inner member formed of a blank of generally rectangular configuration including:

a rectangular base member;

rectangular end panels separated from opposite ends of said base member by fold scores;

a pair of top panels separated respectively from said end panels by fold scores;

a pair of oppositely disposed generally rectangular side panels separated from said base member by fold scores;

a generally rectangular lip member extending from each of said side panels and separated therefrom by fold scores;

a pair of generally rectangular end reinforcing panel members extending from the respective end edges of each of said side panels and separated therefrom by fold scores, said reinforcing panel members of said blank having complementary slots therein and being so constructed and adapted that the slots interengage each other when the reinforcing panel members on each end are folded toward each other to permit the ends of said reinforcing panel m mbers to overlap for holding the side panels vertically relative to the base member and in relatively fixed position spaced across the base member from each other and for providing additional strength in the end portion of the container.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 312,421 2/1885 Bauer. 1,093,407 4/1914 Hammond 22910 2,023,242 12/1935 Ringler 22919 2,656,092 10/ 1953 Ellsworth 229-35 DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Primary Examiner.

U.S. C1. X.R. 229-10 

